Yakov Trenin, after ‘not good’ first season, is helping red-hot Wild grind away wins in Year 2

So much for Yakov Trenin improving his English like he wanted.

“I guess not this year,” he said with a laugh.

With two new Russians on the Wild this season in veteran Vladimir Tarasenko and rookie Danila Yurov, Trenin has more people to chat with in his native language than just Kirill Kaprizov.

“Excuses,” Tarasenko said. “Go talk to other guys.”

On the ice, Trenin is doing plenty of talking with his play, and no translation is necessary to understand how valuable the forward is to the Wild.

After a tough debut season as the team’s prized free-agent pickup in 2024, Trenin is much more confident and comfortable in Year 2. His commitment to grinding away in the guts of the game has made him one of the Wild’s most consistent players.

“He’s found his footing and got his identity,” coach John Hynes said. “He’s a guy that what you’re seeing now, what you saw in the playoffs, that’s the reason we got him is because this is what he can bring to a team.”

But he didn’t make an impact right off the bat.

“Not good,” Trenin said of last season. “Not good. I tried to forget it.”

He didn’t leverage his strengths on a nightly basis and, although offense isn’t his primary objective, how little he was contributing became an eyesore. He was a healthy scratch in January and finished the regular season with 15 points in 76 games.

“Start was very hard,” Trenin said. “You go to a new team, try to make a good impression. But I couldn’t score for 20-something games. So much attention was on me, hate, and it kind of was snowballing. In the middle, it was already better. Just like, well, it can’t get worse.”

He chuckled.

Unsurprisingly, the intensity of the postseason brought out Trenin’s best attributes. The winger had two assists against the Vegas Golden Knights before the Wild were eliminated in the first round in six games.

Trenin, 28, worked on his skating during the summer and dropped weight, reporting to training camp at 200 pounds after he was listed at 214 last season. He was eager to see how these changes would show up in action.

So far, so good.

“I put the noise outside a little bit,” Trenin said, clarifying that “noise” meant “all the media, all the pressure from new contract and everything.” Now, he’s “focusing more on my game and just do what I can do, like in playoffs.”

On the penalty kill, Trenin has been on the ice for just two goals in 38 minutes of ice time. The Wild are also outscoring their opponents 17-11 at 5-on-5 with him playing, according to Natural Stat Trick.

But he’s locked into his M.O.: finishing checks, getting pucks in deep and pressuring defenses into mistakes.

In fact, that’s what makes Trenin most proud of his performance.

“It’s impossible to get a puck away from them,” he said. “But we find a way somehow to get it and now play [in the] O-zone [and] spend more time getting chances from that.”

Trenin is also far and away the NHL leader in hits with 170, well ahead of Vancouver forward Kiefer Sherwood (146). Trenin zeroes in on the brief window after a player moves the puck to leverage his 6-2 frame.

“There’s a short amount of time when he’s not prepared yet for the hit and to absorb it,” Trenin said.

“He’s very disciplined,” said Hynes, who previously coached Trenin when they both were in Nashville. “He’s in great shape. He’s very competitive. When you really get to know him, he takes a lot of pride in his game, and I think he has the physical abilities to play that way, too.

“He’s a naturally big, strong guy, but he’s in excellent shape. He takes care of himself. Days off he’s here. He’s a real dedicated guy. That allows him, I think, to be able to play the way he needs to play consistently.”

The fact Trenin has been dependable no matter who he’s playing with is another feather in his cap.

His linemates have rotated amid the rash of injuries that have depleted the Wild; Trenin has even played center. Now he’s with Tarasenko and Yurov, and the three Russians continue to click.

After they were responsible for three goals in the Wild’s 5-0 rout of Washington on Tuesday, Tarasenko added another when he polished off a tic-tac-toe passing play in the team’s 5-2 victory at Columbus on Thursday.

Trenin also assisted on the game-winner from center Joel Eriksson Ek. The rebound from Trenin’s shot was gobbled up by Eriksson Ek before he bulldozed the puck into the Columbus net to break a 2-2 tie in the third period, helping extend the Wild’s win streak to six games.

It was Trenin’s first two-point game of the season, giving him eight assists to go with his two goals through 35 games.

“If a team has high goals, this style of hockey is very successful later in the year and playoffs,” said Tarasenko, a two-time Stanley Cup champion. “Usually those lines provide so much energy and wear the other team down, which he’s done perfectly. It’s a very important part of our game.”

In other words, Trenin is important to the Wild, and he recognizes that.

He also hopes for a brighter future.